New York State Senate passes minimum wage hike

Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, works during session in the Senate Chamber at the state Capitol on Thursday, March 31, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. The Senate worked through the night before passing the last budget bill, which included a minimum wage hike, at 9:30 a.m. Friday, April 1, 2016.

(Mike Groll)

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The New York State Senate just approved the last of the state budget bills, voting 61-1 to hike the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Sen. Simcha Felder, a Democrat from Brooklyn, cast the only no vote despite widespread opposition to the minimum wage among Senate Republicans.

The Assembly was also voting on budget bills Friday morning, and was expected to pass them all.

The near unanimous vote means that New York City's minimum wage will rise from $9 to $10 at the end of 2016 and gradually increase to $15 an hour by Dec. 31, 2018. Businesses with 10 or fewer workers there get an extra year before they pay workers $15 an hour.

The wage in Upstate New York will increase to $9.70 at the end of 2016, and then jump by 70 cents an hour each year until it hits $12.50 at the end of 2020. Future increases in the Upstate minimum wage will be tied to an inflation index until the rate hits $15 an hour.

In Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, the minimum will increase to $10 at the end of 2016, then by $1 each year until it hits $15 at the end of 2021.

"Many of us hate, not dislike, hate many other things that are in the budget that we believe very strongly will hurt the economy," said one of the most vocal critics of the minimum wage hike, Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, on the Senate floor. "We all have to weigh whether the good outweighs the bad," he said.